Kirkus Review for A Pandemic Is Worldwide
Kirkus Reviews has given A Pandemic Is Worldwide a thumbs up! I like the last line best: “A gently worded explainer for young readers looking for answers.”
Young readers gain insight into what pandemic means….Previous generations of youngsters may not have been familiar with the word pandemic, but today’s youngsters surely are….Opening with a digestible lesson on how pandemics develop and a brief historical overview of medical plagues of the past, the text then turns a microscope on the Covid-19 virus—its physical symptoms, social effects, and what people can do to curb its spread. The role of vaccine development and scientific advances in the field of immunology is highlighted throughout the book. The illustrations of earnest doctors administering vaccines to willing children will rub anti-vaxxers the wrong way, but the wholesome overarching message of “we’re all in this together” will play well to the intended audience….A gently worded explainer for young readers looking for answers.
Can’t say I particularly care about rubbing anti-vaxxers the wrong way, so this review makes me happy all through.
Read MoreFrom Endangered to Extinct
John James Audubon Letters and Drawings, 1805-1892, MS Am 21 (31), Houghton Library, Harvard University
As I work on three books about endangered animals (elephants, frogs, and lions), I’m enthralled with delighted details about their lives–elephants are scared of bees, some frogs can glide from tree to tree, lions can’t purr but ocelots can. These are the little things that I hope will engage kid’s attention as much as mine, will hook them in and get them reading.
And sometimes I can actually forget how endangered these animals are and what a slim chance we have to create a world where they can thrive. Habitat destruction, invasive species, pollution, poaching–all the threats we hear about over and over.
And then I read an article like this on in the New York Times, about the 22 species of animal removed from the Endangered Species List–and not because their population numbers have recovered. Because they’ve been declared extinct.
It feels like a small thing, maybe too small, to write books that could get a new generation of conservationists to care, to hope, to act to keep a diverse world alive. But at least it’s one small thing I can do.
Goodbye to the ivory-billed woodpecker, once called the Lord God bird for its astonishing call. And to twenty-one more animals we will never see again.
Read MoreVampires, Viruses, and (Im)mortality
By Mercy’s gravestone.
Just because it’s one day after Halloween doesn’t mean we can’t still be thinking about vampires. Jason Zinoman in The New York Times has a great article about the connections between vampire legends and times of plague and pestilence…at one time, vampires were seen as creatures who spread deadly diseases rather than pale, sparkly romantic antiheroes. He didn’t mention, but he could, the vampire legends of 19th century New England, in which the undead were blamed for the spread of the white plague–tuberculosis.
Those legends and the true story of how belief in vampires affected the life and death of a nineteen-year-old Rhode Island girl named Mercy Brown became the basis for Mercy, my one and only horror novel to date. (More eerie than horrible, really.)
Read MoreA Frog in his Throat
One more delightfully odd frog: Darwin’s frog. The male swallows the fertilized eggs that his mate has laid and stores them in his vocal sac. (That’s the little sac inside the throat that blows up like a balloon to amplify the frog’s call.) They stay there for up to fifty days, until the eggs have hatched and the tadpoles have developed into tiny frogs. And then…
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Writer’s Group
Three writers, infinite support
Just back from a meeting with my writer’s group; I’m so happy for our vaccinated selves to be able to get together in person once again.
For a while there, I wasn’t a big fan of writer’s groups. I’d read something early on, I think it might have been from Fay Weldon, along the lines of “One day your editor will say yes or no and that’s the only opinion of your writing that you need.”
Officially, I was wrong. Although it did take me a few tries to find the right group, I’ve got to say that the benefits are huge. Among them:
- People to talk you out of your imposter syndrome.
- Accountability—you’ve got to write something for the meeting!
- People who adore your characters almost as much as you do.
- People who are not afraid to tell you straight up when your writing is getting boring or confusing.
- An excuse to buy a fancy coffee and a nice sandwich and a cookie.
My tips for a writer’s group that works:
- Find people who are about at the same level, professionally speaking. It can be discouraging if you’re still trying to sell your first book and somebody else is moaning about their agent or their reviews.
- Meet outside your house. Writers all spend too much time at home anyway, and nobody should be stressing about their writing AND about cleaning or setting out snacks.
- Pick a nice coffeeshop with big tables and not too much noise. (Our favorite coffeeshop did not survive the pandemic, alas, and we are still casting around for the best replacement.)
- Find nice people. The writing world is full of rejection, bad reviews, and a lot of indifference. If you can find a few people who’ll are genuinely pleased and excited to read what you write—don’t pass it up.
More New Things About Frogs
Because frogs are way more exciting than you think–here’s Wallace’s flying frog.
Does it really fly, you want to know? Well, no, it doesn’t. Other than the bat (the mammalian exception) true flight is at the present evolutionary moment confined to birds. (Long ago, there were reptiles in the sky too, but not today.)
Wallace’s flying frog glides from tree to tree in the rainforest. It can achieve a distance of up to fifty feet.
Frogs are AMAZING.
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Beautiful Blackbird Book Festival
There’s still time to experience some of the joyful exuberance of the Beautiful Blackbird Children’s Book Festival, named in honor of celebrated author/illustrator Ashley Bryant.
Fully accessible online…come for activities and read aloud and to see video of a joyful bike giveaway to honor the picture book Joseph’s Big Ride, written by Terry Farish and illustrated by Ken Daley.
Read MoreSarah L. Thomson
A children’s book author publishing award-winning nonfiction, poetry, picture books and novels including…
“Thomson focuses on newfound connection, magic, and suspense to conjure a fast-paced, heartwarming mystery. Thomson’s world is populated by resourceful protagonists, fanciful creatures, and quirky supporting characters.”
—Publishers Weekly